


Sleuths

by Spacecadet72



Category: Knives Out (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, POV Outsider, Suspected Infidelity, no actual infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:20:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28064595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacecadet72/pseuds/Spacecadet72
Summary: Three of Professor Blanc's students think he might be having an affair with the new professor, Professor Cabrera, and decide to find out the truth for themselves.
Relationships: Benoit Blanc/Marta Cabrera
Comments: 8
Kudos: 97





	Sleuths

**Author's Note:**

> I love outsider POV, so this one was such a blast to write. :D It was fun to see Marta and Benoit from an outside perspective and how easily one can twist facts to fit theories. 
> 
> I am still working on the next part of the Single Dad 'verse along with a few other Cablanca fics, so there should be more coming soon. :) (Although possibly not until after Christmas depending on how things go.)

Gillian sat down at the library table, the one in the far back corner that she and her study group had been using for the past four semesters. She opened up her LAJ 370 class notebook and began looking over the notes she had taken yesterday during Professor Blanc's class. She took a few minutes to skim through her notes from the previous lecture. The class before that had been mostly focused on the syllabus and class expectations.

She had been in two of his classes before and had been excited to have him again this semester. He was relatively new in the department, and a little eccentric, with a tendency towards dramatic explanations and anecdotes. But his classes were always interesting and she felt like she actually learned something.

"Studying for Blanc's quiz on Friday?"

She glanced up at Geoff, a fellow Law and Justice major and member of her study group, and nodded as he dropped his backpack on the floor and sat next to her. A movement further in the library caught her eye before she could turn back to her notes. "Here comes Talia."

Geoff turned to wave as Talia approached the table. They were in similar classes, although their schedules weren't exactly the same, but they did all have Blanc's LAJ 370 class Mondays and Wednesdays. As Talia sat down, Gillian was surprised to see a look of worry on her face. She was rarely without a smile.

"What is it? Did something happen?" Gillian, on the other hand, tended to worry a lot. If Talia looked concerned, then something really terrible must have happened.

"I'm not sure," Talia said with a shake of her head as she sat down at the table and reached into her backpack to pull out a thick blue textbook. "It might be nothing."

"I doubt that if it's got you worried," Gillian said, glancing at Geoff who nodded and looked just as curious and apprehensive as Gillian felt. "Tell us what happened and maybe we can help figure it out?"

Talia nodded slowly as if gathering her thoughts. "You know that new Law and Justice professor who just started this semester, Professor Cabrera?"

Gillian nodded. She hadn't met the new professor yet, and none of them had a class with her this term, but she'd heard good things about her classes from some other classmates. Were those initial positive reports wrong?

"I'm not sure it means anything, and I certainly don't want to think that this could be possible, but I met with Blanc during his office hours today, but a little bit after I left, I remembered a question I wanted to ask, and I thought I might be able to catch him before he left his office." Talia paused here, as if not sure she should even continue.

Geoff and Gillian both leaned forward. There was no way they were going to let her stop now.

"And?" Geoff asked before Gillian could.

"Professor Cabrera was talking to him outside of his office, and I know we don't know her, but I think she was flirting with him."

Gillian and Geoff exchanged similar expressions of confusion.

"Did they see you?"

Talia shook her head. "I don't think so. I was a little bit down the hall, and I turned around once I realized what I was seeing."

"I didn't realize she was that old." Gillian hadn't even seen a picture of the new professor, but from the things she had heard from her classmates, it had sounded like she was only in her mid thirties, and Blanc was probably 20 years older than that.

Talia shook her head. "She's not."

"Are you sure she was flirting? Some people just talk like that to everyone," Geoff pointed out. "Besides, you know Blanc, he adores his wife, and he’s definitely not the flirty type."

It was true. He never mentioned her by name, but Blanc's wife often featured in his lectures, and he was clearly in love with her, and he wasn't one of those creepy professors who would hit on his students or other faculty.

"That's the worst part," Talia said, looking even more dejected. "He was definitely flirting back. You should have seen the way he looked at her."

"They didn't do anything, did they?" Gillian said, unable to keep the horror out of her tone.

Talia shook her head. "No, they were in the hallway where anyone could see them. They didn't even touch, but it really seemed like there was something going on."

"Poor Mrs. Blanc," Gillian said, feeling almost sick to her stomach at the thought of Professor Blanc being unfaithful. While she had never met the woman, she always pictured her as part of a matched set with her husband. Older, but attractive, with a quirky sort of Southern hospitality.

How could he do something like that? He was one of her favorite professors, and now it seemed like he wasn't any different than the other professors who fought a midlife crisis by acting like they were in a Woody Allen movie and going after someone much younger. She wasn't sure she wanted to go to his class the next day.

"Now wait," Geoff said, clearly seeing where Gillian's mind was going. "We don't have any proof that anything is actually happening."

"Do you really think he could cheat on his wife?" Talia asked, sounding as sick at the idea as Gillian, but like she wasn't quite ready to believe that of him.

Gillian took in a deep breath. "Geoff is right," she said, saying it as much as a reminder for herself as for them. "All of this is just circumstantial. If there is something going on, we'll need actual evidence."

"We can't spy on our own professor," Geoff hissed out, eyes wide.

Talia shook her head. "Not spy, just keep an eye out for anything else suspicious."

Geoff seemed to relax a little at that. "I can do that."

Talia nodded decisively. "We'll keep each other updated if we discover any other evidence, but for now, I was hoping to get some studying in for the quiz on Friday."

They quickly fell into their old rhythm, quizzing each other as they went over the recent book chapters and their own notes. Gillian found herself focusing more and more on the class material, but this new investigation sat at the back of her mind, never completely out of her attention. She hoped Talia had misunderstood what she had seen, wished desperately for her trust in her favorite professor to be validated. But if it wasn't, if he was cheating on his wife, they would make sure he didn't get away with it.

* * *

They met for their next study group two days later. Talia and Gillian were at their usual spot already, talking over a new concept they were learning in Blanc's class, when Geoff came running up to the table, his voice slightly too loud for a library. He didn't seem to see any of the dirty looks thrown his way.

"Guys!" he said, his voice turning into an urgent hiss as he slid into his seat and dropped his backpack onto the floor in one move.

"What is it?" Talia asked, and Gillian couldn't help but wonder if this was connected to their investigation into Professor Blanc and Professor Cablanca's relationship, whatever it was.

"She's married," he said, the horror he felt clear across his face as he leaned even further into the table. "Professor Cabrera is married."

"How do you know?" Gillian asked, that sick feeling from earlier returning. Well, it hadn't ever really left, but she had managed to get it down to a mostly unnoticeable level. Now it flared up in her chest with a fierceness that hurt.

"I was walking by her office, and her door was open and her left hand was on her desk, and I saw her ring."

“She could only be engaged,” Talia pointed out, a note of forced positivity in her voice.

“That’s still not a good thing,” Gillian said, feeling her mood drop even further at the update. “Even if she’s not married yet, that’s two relationships they’re breaking up.”

"We still don't know if they're having an affair," Talia pointed out. "Just because they're both in a relationship doesn't mean that they're unfaithful, no matter what I saw."

Gillian nodded. "You're right, we need to keep looking."

"I have more news," Geoff said, looking like he wished he didn't have anything more to share.

"What?" Talia asked, and Gillian wished they had never stumbled across this, that they could go back to thinking their professors were good people just because they liked their teaching style.

"One of my friends is in her Thursday morning class, and he said she's not flirty at all. Friendly, sure, but nothing that could be easily misconstrued. One of his classmates even tried to hit on her and she didn’t flirt back at all. She just nicely shut him down and moved on." Geoff looked as discouraged as Gillian felt at the idea of that theory losing any credence.

A horrible thought occurred to Gillian. "Did you tell them why you wanted to know?"

Geoff shook his head. "No, I just said I'd heard something about it and wondered if it was true. I thought we shouldn't be spreading this around, even if it is the truth." He sighed. "She's very pretty. If he is cheating, I guess I can see why," he said as if he was trying to find a way to defend Blanc.

Gillian shook her head. "I don't care if she's Beyoncé, that doesn't justify cheating."

"I never said it justified it," Geoff said, holding up his hands in defense. "I'm just looking for an explanation I guess."

"I think we need to look more seriously for more evidence," Talia said after a few beats of heavy silence.

"What do you mean?" Gillian asked, worried about where this was headed. She just wanted to go to her classes, do her assignments and tests and get that much closer to graduation.

"I don't think we're going to find out what we need to know by happening upon clues outside their offices," Talia said with a shake of her head. "I think we need to do some actual investigating."

"I'm not breaking into his office if that’s what you’re thinking," Geoff said firmly.

Talia looked at him in concern for a moment. "I wasn't going to suggest that. But maybe we could go talk to him and see if we can get any information that way? We could go to his office hours with a homework question and see what we can subtly find out."

The thought of seeing him in his office and trying to get him to slip up and admit something he shouldn't didn't sit well with Gillian, but she wasn't sure what else they could do. With a determined squaring of her shoulders, she looked at Talia and nodded. "I'm in."

* * *

Professor Blanc had office hours on Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 am, and none of them had liked the idea of waiting until next week. They needed the truth. They weren't sure exactly what they would do with it once they had it, but they needed to know exactly what kind of man they had looked up to.

None of them had classes on Friday, so they decided to go as a group. Hopefully with more people there, they would be able to catch the most information. They were a study group, it wouldn't be that weird to go all together to his office for a question about the homework.

They could hear rich, feminine laughter as they approached his office, the door open, although they couldn't see who was in there with him. It could be another student, but Gillian had an idea of just who it might be. As they approached the door, it became clear from the way that Talia and Geoff both stiffened that Gillian's suspicions were correct. Professor Cabrera stood just inside Professor Blanc's office, leaning casually against a filing cabinet as they talked.

Both professors looked up at them as they crowded in the doorway, their smiles easy, not seeming at all worried about being seen. Could that point to their innocence?

"How can I help you?" Blanc asked, turning from Professor Cabrera to lean back in his office chair.

"We wanted to ask about the essay," Talia said, taking the lead, as they had discussed. She was a natural leader, and Gillian didn't relish the idea of being front and center for this conversation.

"Certainly," he said, sitting up straighter. "What was your question?"

"I'll see you later," Professor Cabrera said quietly before she moved for the door. Professor Blanc nodded at her with a smile before turning back to the three of them.

Just as Professor Cabrera was slipping out the door, Geoff turned to her and spoke. "What were you guys talking about? Something funny?"

Gillian stared at Geoff in horror. This was not what they had planned.

Professor Cabrera paused in the door frame and looked at Professor Blanc, who spoke while keeping his attention firmly on them. "We were discussing the statute of limitations and it reminded me of a funny story."

"What is it?" Geoff asked, sounding interested.

Gillian seriously considered just slipping out of the office now.

Blanc glanced quickly at Professor Cabrera before turning his attention back to Geoff. "It is too long to go over today, but I will have to tell it in class sometime,” he said smoothly. "What was your question about the essay?"

Talia began explaining the "question" they had come up with, but Gillian couldn't help but sneak a look at Professor Cabrera, who looked at Professor Blanc quickly as she left the room with a quiet goodbye. She looked unsettled and there was a clear flash of guilt across her features. Gillian tried to memorize the look on the professor's face so she could relay exactly what she had seen once they left the office. She wasn't sure she would be able to forget it.

* * *

They hadn't been able to glean any other information from their visit to Professor Blanc's office, but they all considered what they had gathered to be fairly damning. But it certainly wasn't anything that would hold up under scrutiny. They had the weekend to plan their moves for the next week, but as the week progressed, it didn't feel like they were any closer to actually proving the truth. They had discovered the two professors speaking to each other in their respective offices a few more times, but with their doors open, they weren't going to do anything inappropriate. Besides, their offices were only three doors apart and they taught in the same department. Visiting colleagues wasn't suspicious on it's own. And it certainly wasn't the smoking gun they were looking for. 

The next week went much the same. They were beginning to wonder if their professors were onto them, as their behavior around the other had been completely professional whenever any of the group happened to see them. 

Gillian wasn't even looking for evidence when she stumbled upon their breakthrough. She was leaving the Humanities building the back way after meeting with her major advisor in his office to discuss her classes for next semester. She was almost to the door when she heard a sob.

She paused, looking around carefully, when she heard it again. Someone was definitely crying, but she wasn't sure where it was coming from. Following the sound, which was accompanied by soft murmurs from a second voice, she took a few steps forward. She had to hold back a gasp when she realized just who it was she was hearing.

Professor Blanc and Professor Cabrera were in a small alcove just a few feet from where Gillian stood, completely wrapped up in each other. Professor Cabrera was sobbing, and Professor Blanc rubbed his hands against her back in slow circles as he spoke quietly against her hair.

Gillian stepped back behind a large bookshelf to hide, unsure if she should still be watching, but unable to look away. This could just be Blanc comforting a friend and colleague, but the way they leaned into each other made it difficult for Gillian to brush off.

"Benoit." Professor Cabrera's voice was shaky and he moved one of his hands up to stroke softly against her hair.

Gillian pulled her phone out and snapped a couple of pictures. It wasn't real proof, but was more than they'd been able to get so far. She began to lower her phone when Professor Cabrera pulled back to look up at Professor Blanc. She looked miserable, and Gillian felt horrible for spying on such a private moment. That feeling quickly turned to anger when Professor Cabrera leaned up to press her lips desperately to Professor Blanc's. He responded in kind, giving her the comfort she clearly sought.

Eyes wide and mouth open, Gillian had the presence of mind to take several more pictures. This was it. This couldn't be misunderstood as anything other than what it was. They were both cheating assholes and Gillian wasn't going to stand for it.

Quietly stepping away and back down the hall, she let out a breath that was shaky with anger, and sent the clearest picture of the kiss to both Talia and Geoff.

They hadn't been sure as to their next course of action once they had proof of an affair, but it was clear that there was only one direction they could take. They needed to talk to Blanc.

* * *

He hadn't been in class the next day, and Gillian almost allowed herself to be distracted by the fact that their guest lecturer was the famous mystery novelist, Harlan Thrombey, who apparently knew Blanc from when he used to be a private detective. Blanc wasn't in his office the morning after that during office hours, a hastily written note on his door letting his students know the Friday office hours had been cancelled. Gillian hated waiting, but it allowed her anger to grow over the weekend, to firm up her resolve to confront him about his behavior. She supposed they should be confronting Professor Cabrera as well, but she didn't even know the woman. She hated her, but hadn’t known her well enough to like her in the first place.

Gillian tried to keep herself from glaring at Professor Blanc during their Monday class, but it was a difficult thing. How could he have done such a thing? To his wife? To his students who thought he was a good person and wanted to follow his footsteps in upholding justice and right and wrong?

The three of them went to his office a few minutes before his scheduled office hours on Tuesday. Gillian had worn the outfit she felt strongest in, the tailored jacket she normally wore for interviews feeling like a suit of armor against what she knew would be a difficult conversation. Normally, she struggled with confrontation, but she felt so hurt and so angry, she was afraid Talia and Geoff might have to hold her back.

"Gillian, what is it?" Professor Blanc asked, as they reached his open doorway, looking concerned at the furious expression on her face. Professor Cabrera was standing in the same place she had been last time, leaning against the filing cabinet and while Gillian was glad she would hear this too, she could only focus on Blanc.

"I looked up to you, you know," she began, trying to keep her voice from shaking with all that she felt within her. There were so many emotions fighting for dominance in her chest and she felt like she was going to boil over. "You're a good teacher, but you seemed like a good person too, and you seemed to want to fight for what was right, and that's what I wanted too, and I wanted to be like you and find the truth and help people. I never thought you could ever do anything like this. Is this just some kind of midlife crisis, going after a younger woman?"

"What--" Blanc began, looking confused and very concerned, but Gillian didn't let him continue.

"I thought you loved your wife, how could you cheat on her?" she asked, as she held up her phone and all but shoved it in his face, the picture of his and Professor Cabrera's kiss already on the screen.

He took the phone, his eyes wide before his gaze moved to Professor Cabrera who seemed just as taken aback by Gillian's speech.

She expected one of them to say something, to come to their defense, but instead the first sound to break the tense silence was a loud, barking laugh.

Gillian's attention turned to a third person in the room she hadn't noticed. He was in the back corner, an older man with his arms crossed and a wide grin on his face. Gillian felt her cheeks warm as she realized that not only had someone else heard her all but yelling at her professor, but that it was none other than Harlan Thrombey.

"Harlan," Professor Cabrera scolded, although there was a hint of a smile playing at her lips.

Mr. Thrombey shook his head. "I told you two that you wouldn't be able to keep it under wraps."

Gillian's eyes went impossibly wider. He had known about the affair? And he was laughing at it? Were all of her heroes going to disappoint her?

Professor Blanc stood and handed Gillian her phone back. "What Harlan means is that while you three did some decent sleuthing, what you missed was that Marta and I are married. To each other," he said as he gestured to Professor Cabrera, who nodded, her smile taking on an embarrassed edge.

She reached into her pocket and handed her unlocked phone to Gillian. The wallpaper, while somewhat obscured by apps, was clearly Professor Blanc and Professor Cabrera on their wedding day, their arms around each other, their smiles wide and love filled gazes focused only for the other.

Talia and Geoff leaned over Gillian’s shoulders to look at the picture. Never had they considered that they could be married to each other.

"I'm so sorry," Talia stuttered out. “We’re--we’re--we’re so sorry.”

Gillian felt like she might throw up.

"We didn't want our marriage to be public knowledge at the school with me being so new here," Professor Cabrera explained. "I didn't want people to think I'd gotten the job because of Benoit. Last week, when you saw us together, I had just found out that my sister had been in a bad car accident, and was in the hospital for emergency surgery. She's recovering well, but I was upset, and not thinking about where we were."

From that perspective, the picture on Gillian's phone took on a whole new meaning. It was a wife seeking comfort from her husband after finding out upsetting news, and there was nothing shameful about it.

"We shouldn't have assumed," Gillian said, wishing she could just disappear. "I'm sorry."

"You would not be the first to think I was too old for her," Professor Blanc said with a smile.

Professor Cabrera shook her head at him affectionately. "You're not too old." She turned her attention to Gillian and the others, with such kindness in her eyes, along with a hint of amusement that Gillian thought might be even worse than any anger she could have shown. "I appreciate your looking after me as Benoit's wife, even if you also thought I was the other woman."

"You have been suspicious for a few weeks, haven't you?" Professor Blanc asked, looking at them, his gaze shrewd. "You didn't just stumble on us kissing last week without any prior thought to infidelity."

Talia nodded. "I saw you guys talking a while ago and it looked a little too flirty and we were concerned."

“We were coming to investigate when we saw you guys laughing in your office a few weeks ago,” Geoff, said, sounding embarrassed.

"And we didn't help matters by not being truthful when you asked what we had been talking about," Professor Cabrera said with a shake of her head. "We were talking about a prank my sister had pulled on us a few months ago, but saying that wouldn't make us seem like mere colleagues."

"It did seem kind of sketchy at the time, yeah," Geoff said with a sheepish look.

Professor Blanc shook his head. "You have good instincts, but remember, the truth is not always what it seems, and even if you have a piece that seems to fill a hole perfectly, like a donut with a donut hole, sometimes that donut hole is actually it’s own donut."

Gillian wasn't exactly sure what donuts had to do with it, but he had said stranger things in class. "I'm sorry for accusing you of cheating, but I'm so relieved you didn't actually do anything like that," she said, feeling both embarrassed at their misunderstanding but grateful they had been so wrong. It had hurt to think he had been capable of such a thing.

Blanc huffed out a laugh. "I am as well."

"I guess we'll see you in class tomorrow," Talia said, sounding as awkward as Gillian felt.

She would have to sit at the back of the lecture hall for the rest of the semester. She didn't think she wanted to draw any more attention to herself. She could feel Mr. Thrombey's smirking gaze on all three of them, and just wanted to get out of there.

"See you tomorrow," Professor Blanc said as they exited the office as quickly as they could. They could hear conversation and laughter from the office as they walked away, although it didn't sound unkind.

"I guess it all worked out?" Geoff asked, sounding uncertain.

Gillian nodded, feeling as unsettled. As they walked down the hallway in silence, she revised her vision of what she had thought Professor Blanc's wife looked like. Now she knew what she looked like and how the two of them fit together. It wasn't an obvious match, but there was a solid chemistry and clear feelings between them that couldn't be denied, even if they had come to the wrong conclusion.

"Is it wrong that I ship it?" Talia asked, her cheeks turning pink again.

Gillian shook her head. "I ship it so hard."


End file.
